Now, let's turn back to this
psalm, Psalm 130. This, as I said, is a special
psalm. It's not as familiar as some
of the other psalms, like Psalm 1, Psalm 23, Psalm 100. And we're
prone to overlook it, Psalm 130. I don't know why, except possibly
because it's so far toward the back of the Psalms. It has a
high number, Psalm 130. And it kind of gets hidden among
all these Psalms back here in the back of the hymn book of
the church. And then it's quite short. Quite
short. It's one line longer than Psalm
23. But it has not been the subject
of a lot of sermons. Psalm 23 has, but not this psalm. And there's a possibility that
the subject might have something to do with the fact that it's
not as well known and not used in messages as frequently as
Psalm 23. Psalm 23 says, The Lord is my
shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures, He leads me beside still waters, He restores my
soul. He leadeth me in paths of righteousness
for His namesake. Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. My cup runneth over. He prepares the table before
me." Those are all enjoyable things to think about and rejoice
in, but this psalm deals with subjects that are not especially
appealing. or interesting to most people. This psalm deals with conviction
of sin out of the depths. I cry. This psalm deals with
confession of sin. Lord, if you've charged iniquity,
who could stand it? This psalm deals with self-judgment,
my sins, my iniquities. You see why possibly it's not
as well known as other psalms. This psalm deals with forgiveness
sought, not enjoyed or assured of so
much, but sought. Surrender, submission, and hope
in another, not in ourselves, but in Him. But I'll tell you,
when I get through with this psalm, the Lord willing, when
I finish my message, when it's concluded, I think many of you
are going to come to a greater appreciation of this little psalm
of eight verses. And I think many of you are going
to be able to say, that was my experience in coming to the Lord. That was my experience. And that
is my experience every day in coming to the Lord. Because the
Scripture says we're still coming to Him. To whom coming? To whom
looking? Alright, let's look at it very
briefly. Psalm 130. May God give us some
wisdom and some inspiration some interest in this blessed psalm. Out of the depths have I cried
unto Thee, O Lord, out of the depths. A man said to me some
years ago, four, five, six years ago, he says, the young people have a saying,
you don't know, you don't understand where I'm coming from. He said,
what do they mean by that, where I'm coming from? Well, I understand
where David's coming from, don't you? Out of the depths. Out of the depths. Out of the
depths of conviction. Conviction. Turn to Psalm 51
and listen to it. This is where he's coming from.
You don't understand where I'm coming from. I do. I understand
exactly where he's coming from. Exactly. In Psalm 51. Listen
to what he says here in Psalm 51. He says, in Psalm 51, verse
1, "...have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness,
according to the multitude that I tend to mercies, blot out my
transgressions." Verse 3, "...I acknowledge my transgressions,
my sin is ever before me against Thee, and Thee only have I sinned."
That's where he's coming from, conviction of sin, his own sin. Turn to Psalm 40. Listen to this.
Psalm 40. Oh, this is a tremendous statement
here to those who understand where he's coming from. Where he's coming from is where
we've been. Listen to Psalm 40, verse 12. For innumerable evils encompass
me about, mine iniquities taken hold upon me so that I am not
able to look up. They are more than the hairs
of my head, therefore my heart faileth me. Be pleased, O Lord,
to deliver me, O Lord, make haste to help me." That is where he
is coming from, from the depths of conviction of sin. And then
from the depths of sorrow. He says, I am so unhappy. My
sins have taken hold on me, my heart faileth me out of the depths
of sorrow, groaning over sin." Go back to the text. Out of the
depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Where he's coming from
is not only out of the depths of conviction and sorrow, but
out of the depths of helplessness. Helplessness. He can't help himself.
Out of the depths of need, Lord, I cry to Thee. Out of my depths
of trouble and sin and sorrow, I cry to Thee. I lift my eyes
to Thee, my hands to Thee, my heart to Thee. Here is another
Psalm we ought to become acquainted with, Psalm 107. Turn over there
a minute. Psalm 107. I want you to look at verse 5
and 6. This is when men cry. This is
where David is, where he's coming from. In Psalm 107, verse 5,
verse 4, they wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way.
They found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble. And He delivered them out of
their distresses. Look at verse 13. Then they cried unto the
Lord. Look at verse 12, though. Therefore
He brought down their heart with labor, coming to me all you that
labor and are heavy laden. They fell down, there was none
to help. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. And
He saved them out of their distresses. And all the way through, that
Psalm 107, this is repeated. They cried unto the Lord. So
here David is crying out of the depths of conviction, out of
the depths of sorrow, out of the depths of helplessness, out
of the depths of need, unto the Lord. Unto the Lord. As helpless as the thief on the
cross. And we are this morning. Alright,
notice verse 2 now of our text. Verse 2. Lord, hear my voice. Hear my voice. I'll tell you,
when we're strong, I know this and I experience this constantly,
don't you? When we're strong and prosperous
and healthy and feeling good and things are going our way,
prayer usually comes from our lips. And I'm not condemning
it. I'm not condemning that kind of prayer. I think a person can
pray in time of prosperity, in time of joy, in time of extreme
happiness and contentment and give thanks to God. Prayer is
not just asking. Prayer is not just pleading.
Prayer is praising and thanking God. So you can pray at any time.
But most of the time, when we are prosperous and strong and
joyful and happy and successful, prayer comes from our lips. But when we're in trouble, and
poor and needy, and weary, and in sorrow, prayer comes from
the heart. That's right. And that's where
this is coming from. God doesn't hear those who do
not cry. And God does not hear those who
are not in need. But there's always There's always
an ear for those who are in trouble, like David here. Lord, hear my
voice. Listen. Let thine ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications. The voice of my supplications. What is supplication? What is
a supplication? Well, I studied this yesterday
and I called Doris is in the kitchen. I said, look up the
word supplication in the dictionary. She came in with a dictionary
and she said it means a humble plea. It means a humble plea. It means
an earnest, sincere humble plea, supplication. It means to beg
humbly. And this is what David is saying,
Lord, hear my voice. Hear my voice, and let your ears
be attentive to my humble plea. My humble, earnest plea. That's right. I think you have
an example of one over here in Matthew. Don't leave the text
now, but turn to Matthew 8. Matthew chapter 8. And you know,
this body is so This flesh is so identified with the spirit.
The spirit and the flesh, when the flesh feels good, it helps
the spirit. When the flesh feels bad, it
has an effect on the spirit. And here's a man who is in just
about as bad a condition as you can get, a leper. Back in those
days, a leper was just a person who was rotting, rotting away,
decaying. slowly decaying, an isolated,
lonely, unhappy, unclean, dying, decaying, hopeless person. And it says in Matthew 8 verse
1, And when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes
followed him. And behold, there came a leper and worshipped him. And he said,
Lord, here's a supplication, if you will. You can make me
clean. Now that's a supplication. That's
out of the depths, out of the darkness, out of disease and
death. That's a supplication. Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. Thank God our Lord Jesus
put forth His hand and touched him and said, I will. I will
be thy clean. So he does hear. He hears a cry. out of the depths, a humble,
earnest plea. Plea. Begging humbly. Mr. Spurgeon had a comment on
this verse. He said, is this not real prayer?
Sometimes we say, Lord, teach me to pray. The disciples did.
Sometimes we say, I wish I could pray. Is not this prayer? And he gives us There's four
things about this prayer that he says makes it real prayer. We're not heard for our much
speaking. We're not heard for our rhetorical ability. I know that. We're not heard
for the theological accuracy of our prayers. That's not it. God doesn't need us to tell Him
who He is. He doesn't need us to tell Him
who we are. He doesn't need us to tell him
what we need. He knows before we ask him. So
that has nothing to do with prayer. But watch this. Spurgeon's out.
He said, first, this is real prayer because it's a humble
prayer. Out of the depths, from the deep,
dark dungeon, the depths of sin, I cry. That's humble. Number two, it's a fervent prayer. He said, have I cried? This is not just rehearsing words.
I'm crying. I'm crying out of my heart. It's
a fervent, sincere prayer. Number three, it's directed to
the Lord. And that word, Lord, is important
there. To Jehovah, God my Savior. He's not directing this to Elohim,
the absolute God of justice. He's directing this to God my
Savior, Jehovah, Lord, to Thee. Not to Mary, not to the church.
Not to the Rosary. To Thee. To Thee. And then it's so personal. It's
so personal. Listen, he says, hear my prayer,
hear my voice, hear my supplication. All right, let's look at verse
3. Here's that self-judgment. And this is what is so difficult
for all of us. Self-judgment. Self-judgment. You know, I've said this so often,
a man's not going to be saved until he's lost. A man's not
going to visit Calvary until he's visited Sinai. There's not
going to be any cry for mercy until there's a confession of
guilt. That's just so. Let me show you several verses
here. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
11. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And this
applies to all men, even people who are now converted, people
who know and love Christ, who call themselves Christians. When
they come to the table of the Lord, there's a judgment. By
the preacher? No. By themselves. Self-judgment. Always self-judgment. First Corinthians 11, 28, it
says, but let a man examine himself. And so let him eat of that bread
and drink of that cup. Examination. Self-judgment. Look at verse 31. If we would judge ourselves,
we would not be judged. If we judge ourselves, who? Self-judgment. Judge ourselves. Turn to 2 Corinthians
13. This notice sounded throughout
the book of 1 and 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 13, verse 5. Listen, examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith.
Prove yourselves, your own selves. It's not something anyone else
can do. Know ye not your own selves? How that Christ is in you, except
you be a reprobate. We would judge ourselves. He
says, if we would confess our sins, he's faithful and just
to forgive them. He that covereth his sins shall
not prosper. You know, turn to one other scripture,
Luke 7. I'm going to read the text in
a moment. Luke 7, turn over here. This is a note sounded throughout
the scripture, self-judgment, self-judgment. Self-judgment. In Luke 7, verse 30, but the
Pharisees rejected the counsel of God against themselves. being
not baptized of John. They wouldn't judge themselves.
They wouldn't confess their sins. So here in our text, Psalm 130,
here's David's self-judgment. Lord, if thou shouldest mark
iniquities, if the righteous God does indeed pay attention
to every sin, every evil deed, every idle word, and judge iniquity,
Lord, who shall stand? Who shall stand? Not I. Who shall
stand? All right, verse 4. But, here's
the glad tidings. Here's the good news. But, there's
forgiveness with thee. There is forgiveness with thee.
What is it? It's forgiveness. Total forgiveness.
Total justification. God says, turn to Hebrews 10.
I want you to read this over here. Hebrews chapter 10. Total
forgiveness. Complete justification in Christ
our Lord. But there's forgiveness. Forgiveness. Past, present, and future forgiveness.
In Hebrews 10, verse 12, listen. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, For by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Wherefore the Holy Ghost also
is a witness to us. For after that he hath said before,
This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my law in their hearts
and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more." There is forgiveness with this. He talks about casting our sins
into the depths of the sea, remembering them no more, casting them behind
His back, separating them from us as far as the east is from
the west, infinity. They keep getting farther away.
What? Forgiveness of sin. Where? With
Thee. With Thee, O Lord Jehovah, the
name Jehovah, God my Savior, is always in relation to His
covenant. Why? Watch this now. that thou
mayest be feared, that thou mayest be glorified, that thou mayest
be worshipped, that thou mayest be praised. Let me read you a
passage in Ephesians 2. God's glory. I talked to my class
about this this morning. The chief glory of our God is
His goodness. The chief glory of our God is
the forgiveness of sin. Moses says, show me a glory.
He said, I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I will
be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And the Lord Jesus
Christ, just a few days before He went to the cross, He said
to the disciples, the Son of Man, the hour has come that the
Son of Man should be glorified. As a corn of wheat falls into
the ground, if it doesn't, it abideth alone, but as it falls
into the ground, it bringeth forth much fruit. The Son of
Man, the hour is here for me to be glorified. Then He prayed
to the Father, Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee.
This is the way God is glorified in His death for sinners, in
the sacrifice, in the forgiveness of sin. Now look at Ephesians
chapter 2. It talks about all of our wickedness
and evil and walking according to the course of this world,
verse 4, Ephesians 2. But God, who is rich in mercy,
who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together
with Christ. By grace you are saved and have
raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ. Think where we were. Think where
we are going to be. Think what we were. Think what we are going to be.
Think of the power and goodness and grace and love that brought
us from the dunghill to the throne. Think of the sacrifice that He
made to save us. Why? Verse 7, that in the ages
to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness
poured us through Christ Jesus. That's why. Lord, if you should
mark iniquity, who could stand? In all the universe, in heaven,
earth, and under the earth, who's going to stand? Who can stand
up and say, here I am, perfect and pure? No one. But there's
forgiveness with thee. There's grace, there's mercy,
there's kindness with thee. There's forgiveness that thou
mayest be glorified, exalted, magnified. Honored, praised. The word feared
there is not that we might all be scared of you and run. No,
that's not it at all. That he may be glorified. That
he may be honored. That's why Christ came. There's
this one place you can go in your mind and imagination and
see God. and all his character and attributes
as at no other place and no other time. And that's a Calvary. That's where his wisdom is revealed. That's where his justice is revealed. That's where his power is revealed. That's where his love is revealed. That's where his holiness is
revealed. That's where his kindness is
revealed. That's where his wisdom is revealed.
Mercy and grace met together. Righteousness and peace kissed
each other. And that's why he forgives sinners, that he may
be glorified. That's Christ's greatest glory,
is his sacrifice. It's not his rigid law. That doesn't... That's just normal
to God, that he should be just. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? It's not just his power to create worlds, he can create
worlds as a sideline. Nothing to that. I see these
healers on TV saying, heal, and they fall down, they get up,
and they throw their crutch away, and God's glorified. Oh, he that
made the ear, can he make it hear? Seeing eyes of the Lord. They haven't raised any dead.
Let's go out Rose Hill and pull some folks up. God's able to,
but that's not His glory. That's not how God's glorified.
That's not how God is glorified. It's His goodness, His grace,
His kindness, that the ages to come He might show the riches
of His mercy in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
That's right. All right, verse 5. So, having
seen that and knowing that, I wait for the Lord. I wait for the Lord. Here's David's
confession, and this is mine. I wait for Him. I don't know
about others, but I'm going to wait for Him. Like Joshua of old, I can't speak
for other houses, but I can speak for mine. I don't know what the response
of others is going to be, but I know where my confidence is
in Him. I wait for the Lord. I'm not
waiting for the church. I'm not waiting for the end of
the world. I'm waiting on Him. My hope and
confidence and faith is in Him. Like Peter said, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. I believe and I'm sure that thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God. So I wait for Him. There's forgiveness
with Him. I'm waiting for Him. There's
mercy with Him. There's no mercy or forgiveness
anywhere else. But He is with Him. There's grace
with Him. And I'll tell you something else. He said, I wait for the
Lord. My soul does wait. This isn't a lip. It's not some
religious creed. Church affiliation. The other
night when I preached at a certain place, There was a visitor there
who was openly critical of me because
I didn't give what he called an invitation. The word is altar call, it's
not invitation, it's altar call. I didn't tell people to come
down. I didn't walk down here and say, now if you want to be
saved, come to me, come to the front. No, I didn't, and I'm
not going to God helping me. Because I can't save, and the
front can't save. Salvation is not moving a hand
or a hair or a foot. Salvation in coming to Christ
is coming to Christ in the heart. It's to go home after you read
the Word and hear the message, it's to go home and talk to God. Like David here is not He's not
down at the front of a church talking to a preacher. He's out
of the depths. Have I cried unto thee? Lord,
hear my prayer. If you should mark iniquity,
who would stand? But Lord, there's forgiveness
with thee that you might be glorified. So I'll wait on you. Won't you
run down to the church? No, I'm going to wait on you,
if you don't mind. Won't you go to the front? No,
I'm going to wait on you, Lord. My soul is going to wait on you.
My soul, not my body, my soul. What in the world can my shaking
hands with a man down here, what can it do? What kind of covenant
is going on here? He hasn't sinned against me.
I can't forgive. It's God that we've offended.
Let's do business with Him in the person of His Son. That's
the key. You're in trouble. And people
come to a man and go away pretty comfortable thinking they've
come to God. I wait for the Lord. My soul
is waiting. Now watch this. In His Word do
I hope. His Word has got to confirm my
faith. I've got to hear Him say, Thy
sins be forgiven. Well, how is He going to say
that? In His Word. In His Word, I hope, I hope in
His Word, He said, this is my confession. He said, I'll never
leave you so I can say the Lord's my help. He said, he that believeth
on the Son hath life. I believe, therefore I have life.
He said, come to me, ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll
give you rest. He said that, I'm coming. He said, believe. Trust me. I believe it. in His Word, I hope. Now, I'll
follow the Lord in baptism and confess Him before people, and
I'll unite with His Church as a confession of what He's already
done. But He's got to do it. I can't
tell anybody something's happened unless it has. I'm not going
to confess what I don't have. I'll confess what He did. The
Lord's done something for me. The Lord's done something for
me. Look at verse 6. My soul waited
for the Lord. Why did he use this term? I want
you to see if I can help you here. My soul waited for the
Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I'll say it
again, more than they that watch for the morning. And I sat down,
I got to thinking about that. Those that are watching for the
morning, why are they watching for the morning? For one thing,
they're weary of the night. They're weary of the night and
the darkness. They're tired of it. They're
just up to head. They're weary of the night, they're
weary of the darkness. They're looking for the morning.
Secondly, they're not only weary of the night, but they're anxious
for some light. They're anxious for the passing
of the darkness, and the light and warmth of the day. I said
to someone this morning when we came into the building, I
said, isn't it a beautiful spring morning? He said, every morning
is good. Every morning is beautiful. It's
the passing of the night. Joy cometh in the morning. Light. Light. A man can't walk in darkness
and be happy. He's got to walk in the light.
They that wait for the morning, wait for the light. And I tell
you about what's going on. No matter how dark the darkness
is, and weary the night, and long the night, there's one thing
they're certain of, morning's coming. It's a coming. Might be long time coming, but
it's coming. Morning's coming. They're certain
of it. That's what's going on. They're
weary of the night, they long for the light and the warmth
of the day, and all this time they're certain. Morning's coming. It'll be here. It'll be here. It'll be here, and here's good
time. But I'm sure it'll be here. And then the next thing going
on in their minds is this. They're helpless to speed it
up. If they're confident, He'll bring
it to pass. They can't make the sun shine,
but they know who can. They can't make the day come,
but they know who can. They can't make the morning sweet
and lovely, but they know who can. So they wait on Him. They
wait on Him. I wait for the Lord. That's why
I wait. I wait for the Lord. Because
I'm tired of the night, aren't you? I'm longing for the light. I'm certain it's coming. And
I'm helpless to bring it to pass. that I know who can. I wait for
the Lord more than they that wait for the morning. I say more
than they that wait for the morning. Verse 7, let us then, let Israel,
that's believers, that's believers everywhere. That's you, me, every
believer over this nation. Let Israel hope in the Lord. It doesn't say, let Israel hope
for mercy. We don't hope for mercy. We hope
in the Lord. He has mercy. It's like a fellow
said, I wish I had some apples. If you had a tree, you'd have
some. If you had an apple tree, you'd
always have apples. And that's if you have the Lord,
you always got mercy. You can hope for mercy. But to
have Him, you have mercy. He's merciful. They're not hoping
for forgiveness. They're hoping in the Lord, to
have the Lord to have forgiveness. Forgiveness is with Him. There's
none anywhere else. You see what I'm saying? They're
not hoping for heaven. They're hoping in the Lord. He
is heaven. Where He is, is heaven. I'm with
Him, I'm in heaven. They're not hoping for redemption.
They're hoping in the Lord. With Him, there's plenty of redemption. You see that? Oh, that's important. Let Israel hope in the person.
Salvation is not a plan. Thank God for His wonderful plan
of salvation. I don't. I thank God for His
wonderful person of salvation. The person. Let Israel hope in
the Lord. With the Lord is mercy. With
the Lord is plenty. There's no shortage. No shortage. And like those little rats over
there in Egypt. God told Joseph it would be seven
years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine. And so the seven years of plenty,
Joseph stored up enough wheat and corn to last Egypt and neighbors
for seven years. And two little rats got into
the corn. And one of them said, it's going
to be seven years now before it rains again, we better eat
fast. I tell you, you'll never exhaust
His corn. You'll never exhaust His mercy.
I don't care how long you eat, how hungry you are, how empty
you are. With the Lord is plenteous. Do
you know what plenteous means? With you and I, it's, I don't
know, it's having enough to last for a week or two, I guess. But
with the Lord is plenteous, plenteous mercy redemption. He's able to
save the chief of sinners. He's able to save to the uttermost
them that come to God by Him. Plenteous, plenteous redemption.